Ryan Rejected: Trump Says “Not Backing Down” From Tariffs

Moments ago, when reporting that Paul Ryan – and other senior members of Congress – had joined the Tariff Resistance, demanding that Trump kill the proposed steel and alu import tariffs, we quoted Bloomberg’s Michael Regan who remarked that “this is either a strong signal that Trump may end up being talked out of tariffs, or a strong signal that Paul Ryan’s about to get saddled with a new insult-comic nickname from Trump.“

As a reminder, Paul Ryan joined the chorus against the Trump tariffs on Monday, and in a statement Ryan said the following:

“We are extremely worried about the consequences of a trade war and are urging the White House to not advance with this plan. The new tax reform law has boosted the economy and we certainly don’t want to jeopardize those gains”

According to Bloomberg’s Michael Regan “this is either a strong signal that Trump may end up being talked out of tariffs, or a strong signal that Paul Ryan’s about to get saddled with a new insult-comic nickname from Trump.”

At the same time, other Republican Congressional leaders said they haven’t ruled out “a potential action down the line” if President Trump follows through with imposing sanctions on imported steel and aluminum, a GOP official said.

Well, it appears that Ryan is indeed about to have a new nickname, because according to flashing red headlines, Trump just said that he won’t be changing his mind.

TRUMP SAYS NOT BACKING DOWN WHEN ASKED ABOUT RYAN COMMENTS

TRUMP SAYS HE’S NOT BACKING DOWN ON TRADE

Trump then doubled down, adding that “I don’t think you’re going to have a trade war” in response to the planned tariffs, which is somewhat at odds with everything else he said. Regarding Nafta and the tariffs, he told reporters, “If they aren’t going to make a fair trade deal, we’ll leave it this way.” He also threatens to tax car imports coming in ‘like water’, repeating his weekend tweet.

So far, the stock market refuses to react clearly convinced that Trump is, once again, bluffing, while Trump’s comment on China has triggered a small pop in the yuan.